1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data flow control systems and, more particularly, to traffic flow control systems and methods.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional network devices relay data units, such as packets, through a network from a source to a destination. Typically, a network device buffers the data units, for example in queues, and includes one or more arbitration subsystems to control data unit flow into and out of the queue.
Conventional arbitration subsystems often operate on a per-queue basis, and therefore do not take into account the unique characteristics of the traffic. Thus, certain types of traffic may block other types of traffic. For example, low priority traffic may continue to be sent to a processor, blocking high priority traffic before a flow controller can stop the flow of such low priority traffic.
Therefore, there exists a need for systems and methods for arbitrating traffic that minimizes traffic blocking.